Australia have slipped another place to fifth in the latest World Rugby Rankings with France, Japan, Tonga, Canada and Namibia also falling after defeats.
Australia’s 26-23 loss to Ireland on Saturday has seen the Wallabies slip another place to fifth – equalling their lowest ever position since the World Rugby Rankings were introduced in October 2003.
The Wallabies headed into the match in Dublin sitting just one hundredth of a rating point above England, but will now travel to Twickenham to face Stuart Lancaster’s men this weekend behind two northern hemisphere nations with Ireland strengthening their hold on third place with the win.
World Rugby Rankings 24 November 2014
England finally ended a run of five successive defeats – albeit them all against the top two sides in the world – with a hard-fought 28-9 victory over Samoa, although the win over the 11th ranked team had no impact on their rating.
The same was true of New Zealand and South Africa after they enjoyed victories over Wales (34-16) and Italy (22-6) respectively on Saturday. The All Blacks, who were named World Rugby Team of the Year for the fifth year in a row after the match, have now sat top of the rankings for five years.
Despite the defeat, Wales have climbed one place to sixth as a result of France’s 18-13 defeat to the lower ranked Argentina at the Stade de France. The win was not enough to improve Argentina’s ranking of ninth, but they have closed to within six tenths of Scotland above them.
Samoa are another side to improve their position despite suffering a defeat after Japan slipped one to 11th on the back of a surprise 35-24 loss to Georgia in Tbilisi on Sunday, one which ended the Brave Blossoms’ winning streak at 11 Tests.
Georgia remain 15th after the victory, but now sit less than six tenths behind Italy and with a little breathing space from USA, who slipped to a 20-14 loss to Fiji in north-west France on Friday. That win saw Fiji climb above Tonga after their fellow Pacific Islanders lost 37-12 to Scotland.
The only other positional switches in the top 20 came as a result of Romania’s 18-9 victory over Canada in Bucharest, the Oaks climbing above their visitors into 17th to condemn them to their lowest ever position in the rankings. The two sides will meet again in Pool D at RWC 2015.
Portugal were the final climbers of the weekend after a 29-20 victory over Rugby World Cup 2015 bound Namibia in Lisbon. Portugal’s victory sees them swap places with Namibia to occupy 22nd place.
The only other international match saw Moldova run out emphatic 57-8 winners over Sweden in Division 1A of the European Nations Cup 2016. It was a third win in as many weekends for Moldova, but this had no impact on their rating in 28th with Sweden sitting 22 places lower than them.